Greatest Oscar Injustices: A Star is Snubbed… I Mean ‘Born’

Bradley Cooper is the real star

“I just want to take another look at ya, Bradley.” — A Star Is Born (2018), Warner Bros.

Remember when Green Book won Best Picture at the 2019 Oscars and Spike Lee rightfully tried to storm out of the Dolby? Oh, yeah.

When Bohemian Rhapsody won Best Film Editing even though it’s been referred to as a “masterclass in bad editing?” Mhm.

And A Star Is Born was nominated in 8 categories including Best Picture, but not Directing? Triple yeah.

Bradley Cooper. Baby, you should have been nominated for Directing, and dang it, you should have won Best Picture.

On Directing

A Star Is Born (2018), Warner Bros.

Directing is one of those hard-to-put-your-finger-on elements of filmmaking.

To understand why a film could be nominated for all other categories but not Best Directing, we’ve got to put our finger on that X-factor element. Defining it will also shed light on why someone does deserve a nod for Best Directing.

Judith Weston, in her 1996 book, Directing Actors, describes directing as the “white-water rafting of entertainment jobs” and “a high-stakes occupation (that)…